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I am really enjoying this conference. Deborah Ball and Mark St. John have really pushed my thinking in interesting and important new ways - and judging from the interactions their questions/conjectures have engaged many of the participants as well.
As a practitioner I have especially enjoyed the posters. It is always great to talk with people who are doing similar work. I am awed by the scope of your work, the depth of your insights, the passion with which you continue to search for more and deeper understandings. I found your reflections and questions affirming. I feel comforted knowing that my experiences and questions are not unique but I also feel energized by it. The pooled data from 90 LSC projects provides enormous possibilities for large-scale examination of this effort and for numerous approaches to data analysis - but it will take efforts like this conference to bring us together to identify such an agenda and then move in such a direction.
Similarly, I take comfort in knowing that we have many common questions surfacing within our work. I believe that the "big questions" are common but our emerging ideas may not be. So, here again, I find forums like this conference ideal for bringing us together to have conversations where we can get underneath the surface and really begin to collaborate. I urge us all to take a pro-active role in creating and participating in forums of this type as we continue to engage in systemic reform.
But mostly, I am deeply moved by the love you and your colleagues obviously have for ALL kids - on behalf of kids everywhere I thank you !
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